Eric Pickles' Conference speech in full

Here is the full text of Eric Pickles speech to the Conservative Conference in Birrmingham.

It was a great honour to be invited by the Prime Minister to become the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government particularly as this was once part of John Prescott's great empire.

On the way to the department, I wondered what memorabilia I might find from Prezza's era. I was a bit embarrassed to ask directly so I hit on the idea of asking for a quick tour of the most wasteful items in the building.

First item was a beautiful red Parisian sofa costing £5,000.

"Wow that IS expensive".

"Glad you like it we've got £130,000 worth of them".

"Did Prezza order them?"

No - it's part of Hazel Blears' efficiency drive.

Next stop was the serene green peace pods, a two storey up market port-a-cabin designed to bring tranquillity and the better bits of Zen to civil servants.

There has never been a better time to be involved in local government.

We're cutting back the red tape which holds councillors back:

The bureaucratic Comprehensive Area Assessment,

The interfering Government Offices for the Regions.

The flawed predetermination rules.

They're all going.

Local councils will have a general power of competence and new freedoms to run services free from Whitehall diktat.

A stronger say on licensing, on planning, on public health.

The ability to restore the Committee system if they wish.

We've freed up over £1 billion of ring-fenced funding - much more to come.

We'll allow councils to borrow against future business rates to provide new infrastructure.

We're shredding unnecessary guidance, performance indicators and data reporting. And we want to put local councils in the driving seat to join up public services, pooling resources across the public sector to tackle social problems.

Conference

Right here in Birmingham, there are two notorious gang families who have cost taxpayers £37 million.

What an appalling waste.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Council spending on early intervention for children and families can deliver £10 of savings for every pound spent.

Investing money to address the causes of social breakdown is far more effective than subsidising the symptoms.

So we'll allow councils to pool the budgets across the public sector - social services, care, housing and health improvement, and reward councils for delivering results and preventing social breakdown.

We want elected mayors to trail blaze such initiatives.

I believe elected mayors in cities will be embraced by the public if they have real powers.

It's time for Home Rule for our cities, from Birmingham to Bristol, from Newcastle to Liverpool.

Just over a hundred years ago, the power of civic pride and mayoral leadership was plain to see right here, in Birmingham.

Before Joseph Chamberlain was elected mayor of Birmingham its citizens lived in destitution, its streets were squalid and its public services non-existent.

In the few short of years of his civic leadership, he gave Birmingham clean water, gas and electricity, he cleared the slums and oversaw the construction of Corporation Street.

Imagine - what could be achieved by a 21st Century generation of Joe Chamberlains, championing civic pride and social renewal.

But new powers for local government need to be backed up with greater local accountability and transparency.

So councils should show me the money they should show you the money.

Everything they spend over £500 they should publish

My department has already done this.

Sure it will at times make for an uncomfortable ride. But this will unleash an army of armchair auditors.

Greater transparency is good for democracy and it will save us a bob or two.

Everyone in the public sector must do their bit to cut back.

The Prime Minister's taken a pay cut,

I've taken a pay cut,

So I say to my many chums who are Council Chief Execs...

... it's your turn now.

Trust me, you will feel better for it - you'll be able to look your council workers in the eye.

I want to be helpful - so here's a suggestion.

If you're on a salary of £150,000, you can afford to take a 5 per cent pay cut,

Likewise, to all those on £200,000, you can afford a ten per cent cut.

And no new council chief execs should be appointed on a salary greater than the Prime Minister's

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We have a long way to go.

We must keep up the momentum.

With more power to local authorities comes more responsibility and greater accountability to the electorate.

Real localism means that we must give power back to neighbourhoods who are the building blocks of the Big Society.

We can be as bold, as radical, as ambitious as we want.

This is a once in a generation chance to change our country for the better.